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USM Yamato, Shanxi space
Admiral Drescher looked around her new command centre. It was more cramped than her previous one, Yamato being a slightly older design than Ark Royal. However, it would have to do. Ark Royal was simply too heavily damaged to remain in action. As soon as the turian fleet had started to retreat she had transferred her flag to Yamato and sent Ark Royal on her way back to Arcturus for emergency repairs. And Ark Royal wouldn't be alone. Out of second fleet's fourteen destroyers only six were still in a condition to continue fighting. Three had been destroyed completely and five more were too badly damaged. They too would retreat to Arcturus. The frigates had fared slightly better, having lost five of their number, but gaining the three that been waiting for them in Shanxi. Still, many of the survivors were damaged to a certain extent and they too would need repairs. Already, specialized maintenance and supply vessels were on their way from Arcturus to take care of any ship that didn't require docking facilities.
The related butcher's bill was equally bad. Admiral Pressly was dead, the second destroyer admiral to die in this war. With him, nearly fifteen hundred people had been killed, with an equally long list of wounded who would need months to recover, if they ever did.
The good news was that, other than Ark Royal, second fleet's carriers had escaped major damage and were still operational. Their fighter wings had taken a beating, but they could be replenished from Arcturus.
Meanwhile, the remnants of the alien fleet had accelerated to FTL speed and left the system. Having lost approximately two-thirds of their strength they were unlikely to pose a threat anytime soon.
"Send a message through the relay," Drescher ordered. "I want Graf Spee and her escorts to make the jump as soon as possible."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then set a course for Shanxi. General Perez will need air cover."
Shanxi, turian command centre
The initial strike to retake the lost district headquarters had failed. They had made it inside the compound, but in the end, the turians had failed to dislodge the human defenders. Unfortunately, there would not be an opportunity to try again. Even before the shuttles had returned, the main human assault had started, landing several thousands of soldiers with their supporting equipment in a forested area a few kilometres outside the city. From now on, that would be the primary target.
Turians believed in overwhelming force. It was a crucial element of every aspect of turian strategic thinking: When fighting, you should always go all-out, or you shouldn't fight at all. This time though, going all-out produced a result that was distinctly underwhelming. There simply wasn't enough equipment to produce the kind of numbers needed, nor the facilities to support that kind of force. The invasion force had, from the beginning, relied on logistic support from the transports in orbit to maintain and repair their shuttlecraft. Now those transports were gone and the limited facilities that had been constructed planetside were simply insufficient to handle the kind of numbers that would have been required for an effective counter attack.
Still, Desolas had been able to scrape up over a hundred troop transports with an additional twenty-three smaller aircars a support. Between them they would be able to deliver over two thousand soldiers; always provided that they managed to reach the target location. They would be outnumbered, but the humans were still in the process of landing. if the turian counter attack hit the humans before they established a defensive perimeter they could still be defeated, which might cause them to delay further attacks. It was not an optimal solution, but right now it seemed the best option available, especially since the news from the space battle was far from good.
-o-o-o-
Shanxi, advanced landing zone
"General, we have incoming"
Perez looked at the display. A sizeable air group was en route to his landing site.
"How is our air defense?"
"Six vehicles operational, sir."
"Hmm. How many Cheyennes do we have available?"
"Two full squadrons standing by, sir."
"Then send them in. Let's see what these things are made off. And contact admiral Drescher. We're going to need her fighters, ASAP."
-o-o-o-
The turian strike force was less than ten minutes away from their target, maintaining a reasonable altitude to avoid the possibility of ground collision. High above them, a small force of fighters, the only ones could be spared from the fleet, were providing some limited air cover. The pilots had their scanners turned on. There simply was no point in trying to hide a force this size. Still, they were taken by surprise for the simple reason that they were looking in the wrong direction. Expecting an air threat, if any to appear from above, most likely from fighters launched from the humans ships orbiting overhead, they didn't see the twenty-four super Cheyennes, until it was too late.
Twenty-four UD-4Ys, hugging the ground as closely as possible to blend in the radar background, and with all active emissions shut down, suddenly shot upward, guns blazing as they punched through the turian formation. They had relied on directions from the orbiting vessels to set the optimal intercept course.
The result was utter chaos, with turian assault shuttles scattering in all directions as they tried to avoid the attack. Two shuttles too close together and with their pilots distracted slammed into one another and exploded. Seven more were taken down by fire from the dropships. The Cheyennes continued upward until they were well above the turian formation, then scattered as the pilots, now operating as individuals, sought out their targets.
Truth be told, neither the assault shuttles nor the Super-Cheyennes were optimized for dogfighting. However, the Cheyennes packed an impressive arsenal, whereas the turian assault shuttles only had door mounted guns, which could not be operated effectively at high speed. The smaller aircars did have forward firing guns, but they lacked armour and were still hopelessly outgunned. Cheyenne pilots, who had never dreamed of encountering such an opportunity in their entire careers, dove down on their targets, gatling guns blazing, while the shuttles raced ahead, staying as low to the ground as possible while dodging gunfire and missiles.
The confusion became complete when the handful of turian fighters entered the battle. By far the best dogfighters of any of the vehicles involved they should have had en easy time of it. However, the Cheyennes, with their powerful engines and excellent low-speed manoeuvrability, proved to be more difficult targets than expected, and they could absorb a lot of punishment. One turian pilot, eager to secure a kill, was taken by surprise when the dropship in his sights suddenly braked, nearly stopping in mid-air, causing him to overshoot. He never learned from his mistake as the Cheyenne blew him apart with gunfire.
Still, the Cheyenne pilots could recognize a losing game as well as anyone and scattered, hugging the ground, satisfied to have destroyed a score of enemy assault craft, as well as a single fighter, at the expense of only three of their own. There were too many of them for the fighters to pursue and the turians needed to stay close their assault shuttles in any case.
-o-o-o-
It took the turian pilots several minutes to form up again, having lost nearly twenty percent of their original strength. As they continued their approach, a radar beam swept over one of the assault shuttles.
The turian pilot had noticed the radar that had swept over his shuttle. However, once it disappeared from the scope, he relaxed as no targeting sensor had locked on. Unfortunately for him, that was not entirely true.
At the edge of the tree-line a Grizzly ADV (1) had picked up the warning from orbiting ships that the turian assault force was en route and its crew had briefly activated their own search radar, but only for a single sweep. The Grizzly was well-hidden, covered by the trees as well as an extensive camouflage net, and they had no interest in broadcasting their position prematurely. Fortunately, there was no need. With the location of the approaching turians established they switched to their optical back-up systems, which allowed for a purely passive target acquisition.
The Grizzly's turret turned slightly, allowing the sensors to follow the target. To the sides the combined gun/missile pods elevated.
"Missile seekers activated... Target acquired."
"Stand-by!"
The vehicle commander studied his tactical plot. All around the landing zone other vehicles, similar to his own were searching for targets, their data-links ensuring that they would not accidentally engage each other's targets and waste their first shot.
"Engage!"
The gunner slammed his foot down on the firing pedal; two missiles roared off the launching rails, accelerating away from the vehicle in a brief burst of fire and smoke.
-o-o-o-
Surprise was complete. Unused to dealing with vehicle mounted heavy weapons and lulled into a false sense of security by the lack of active targeting scanners the turian pilots needed precious seconds to decide on countermeasures; seconds they no longer had.
Three shuttles were torn apart by multiple missile strikes. A fourth spun out of control, half its thrusters torn off, and exploded as it hit the ground. Two others were damaged but remained airborne.
With their location revealed the Grizzlies no longer had any need to conceal themselves. Their search radars swept the sky, looking for new targets, of which there were plenty.
More missiles streaked through the sky and more assault shuttles went down, but now the turians were too close and the Grizzlies had to switch to their gatling guns. Tracer rounds reached out in short bursts as the fire-control systems tried to predict the movements of the desperate turian pilots who were executing wild manoeuvres in an effort to avoid the incoming fire.
Some simply slammed their shuttles into the ground, sacrificing their vehicles in an effort to save the lives of the soldiers on board. Others threw open the hatches to allow the crew to shoot back with door-mounted guns.
The latter was somewhat effective and one of the Grizzlies was torn open by mass accelerator slugs, but the door-mounted guns could only be effective at low speed, which made the shuttles an easy target for the air defence vehicles.
Still, there were simply too many shuttles and the Grizzlies were forced to roll back into cover, using trees or buildings to shield themselves. With the ground-to-air fire falling silent the remaining shuttle craft landed and disembarked their soldiers.
By now the turian formation was hopelessly tangled up with individual squads landing wherever their shuttles had found a landing spot. The loss of unit cohesion was in itself not disastrous, for turian units were designed and trained to be interchangeable within larger formations. Still, of the two regiments that had embarked more than a quarter had been lost, including many officers, and the remainder needed time to re-establish a chain of command. Once again, time was not on their side, nor was the balance of firepower. With the turian fighters still circling overhead, the Cheyennes were staying out of the battle, but the turians were in no shape to provide air-to-ground support. Their assault shuttles had proven to be too vulnerable to air defences and the fighters lacked the necessary numbers. Normally heavier frigates would have entered the atmosphere to provide the necessary firepower, but none were available. That left the battle to the ground forces and the turian soldiers quickly found out just how outgunned they were. Human marines, dug in along the tree lines, opened fire with assault rifles and smartguns into prearranged killing grounds, recklessly spending ammunition in order to smash the turian counter attack before it could fully materialize, but, even more importantly, to simply pin the turians down.
More than five kilometres behind the frontline, other vehicles, also derivatives of the Grizzly APC, had been dug in, waiting silently until the turians had completed their landing. Now they trained their barrels upward and opened fire.
Time-on-target was an old concept, dating back to the second great war back on old earth. At the time it had required the careful coordination of a whole artillery battery to ensure that a whole salvo arrived at the same time. Modern fire control made it easier and automatic loading systems made it possible for a single vehicle to fire a series of rounds that, due to changes in firing arc all arrived at the same time.
The result was utter devastation. A battery of eight mortar carriers, at least half of which had been christened 'Bert the Avenger' by their crews for reasons that had been lost in time, each unleashed half a dozen rounds in rapid succession. This meant that forty-eight mortar bombs landed at the same time within an area that was barely one hundred by one hundred meters. The turians troops in that area, who had had no chance to dig themselves in, as well as two shuttles that had landed there, simply ceased to exist.
The vehicles turned, adjusted their aim to a new location and fired again; and again.
After three salvos the Grizzly mortar carriers had shot themselves empty and rolled back, both to reload and to avoid possible counter battery fire. For the latter, they could have saved themselves the trouble. The turians had nothing in their arsenal that could have countered them effectively, except for air support, which they were in no position to supply. The fighter pilots, circling overhead and watching the slaughter were practically begging their controllers to allow them to go in. They did get permission, but the result was less than impressive. The fast moving fighters were not designed for close air support and had trouble finding targets, especially with human and turian soldiers so close together on the ground. Also, the Grizzly ADVs had relocated and the turian fighters were diving straight into their fire.
Two fighters were plucked from the sky before they could open fire. A third was damaged and had to break off, but the rest continued their attack. Their fire took out a mortar carrier, which had been too slow to move, and killed perhaps a score of humans, but the marines, trained to operate under such conditions had dispersed themselves well and were difficult targets. What was needed was a vehicle like the Super-Cheyenne, which could hover over the battlefield at treetop level to look for targets. The turian arsenal simply didn't include such craft other than navy frigates, which were by now far away.
As the turian fighters pulled up from their strafing runs another was blotted from the sky. Then the ADVs ceased fire as friendly aircraft were moving in. The Super-Cheyennes had been waiting for an opportunity. Now, with the turian numbers reduced, and the fighters close to the ground where their manoeuverability would be limited, they re-entered the battle. Individually the dropships were still outmatched, but now they could engage the fighters two-on-one or three-on-one in an environment for which they were far better suited than their opponents. Two more of the dropships were brought down, but the turians lost another three fighters. That was enough for ground control to pull them out. By now there were only four intact fighters left, and they broke away, using their superior speed to get clear of the battle.
Of course, that left the human dropships with complete air-superiority over the battlefield and they used it with abandon, emptying their missile-racks at the parked assault shuttles and tearing up the surrounding terrain with their guns. The handful of surviving air-cars took off in a commendable attempt to engage them, but it was a doomed effort.
Turian soldiers on the ground, those that were still capable of resistance tried their best to fight back using assault rifles and rocket launchers against the circling dropships, but the former lacked the firepower and the latter were unguided projectiles that were never designed to target airborne targets. There were hits, of course, and one dropship exploded in mid-air as a rocket slammed into one of its engines. Two more had to withdraw with moderate damage, but it didn't matter for the outcome. By the time the last dropship departed, its ammunition load fully expended, the turian assault had been broken. Human marines, moving cautiously from their firing positions only found a handful of shellshocked survivors.
In his command vehicle, parked in the forest behind the front line, general Perez looked at the images that were being transmitted by a handful of observation drones and shook his head.
"They fight bravely; you have to give them that, but this isn't war. I don't know what kind of opposition they're used to, but these aliens don't have the first idea of what they're dealing with." He shrugged. "Well, so much the better for us. Are the new combat drones ready for deployment?"
One of his aids looked at a status panel. "Yes sir, the control vehicle is set up and they're ready to go."
"Good, get them over the city. Then start landing the rest of our troops. I don't think these aliens will try to interfere with the landing again."
HNV Force of Justice, en route to Relay 288
Septimus Oraka studied the glass in hand. It wasn't really the best moment to indulge in Horosk, but then again, it was not as though he had anything better to do. The crew was hard at work making emergency repairs. They didn't need the general looking over their shoulders. His personal sidearm was lying on the desk in front of him. He had been studying that too, wondering if he should be putting it use.
Two dreadnoughts, seven cruisers, nine frigates, all gone. Of the surviving ships, not a single one undamaged, many beyond repair. Thousands of lives lost. The greatest defeat in fifteen hundred years, and you, Septimus, were the one to preside over it!
Even now he had a hard time grasping the scale of the violence and destruction that had been unleashed. No turian fleet had engaged in such a battle since the Krogan rebellions; there simply hadn't been anyone for them to fight. Only the quarrians had any recent experience in large scale naval battles, and even that dated back several centuries.
Perhaps we should have asked the suit rats for advice. It's not as though they could have done any worse!
Oraka emptied his glass in a single gulp and took another look at his pistol. It would be so easy, just a quick squeeze and it would all be over. It was not as though it had never been done before. Turian custom understood the concept of an honourable suicide, a way of admitting responsibility for ultimate failure. Still, the practice was never fully accepted. After all, a person's life wasn't his own; it belonged to the hierarchy.
I wonder what the humans would think of that?
Now there was an interesting question! Every time he closed his eyes Septimus saw the image of the human warship hurtling itself into Guiding Spirit, obliterating both itself and the dreadnought in an instant. It had become a favoured topic of discussing among his crews, who seemed about equally divided in their opinion as whether it was an example of perfect adherence to duty, or a sign of a petulant commander with a massive ego going on a self-destructive rampage at the expense of his crew. Septimus didn't really care. Whatever had been the motivation that drove the human commander to his actions, it had been effective. In the end, that was all that mattered.
With an angry gesture, Septimus pushed the weapon aside. No matter how he felt, he still had a job to do, a duty to fulfill. Councillor Sparatus needed to know what had occurred as soon as possible before a new set of blunders destroyed whatever chance they had left to make peace.
Shanxi Space
When the turian fleet retreated from Shanxi, two vessels remained behind. Aboard one of them, the STG specialists continued to monitor the battle. Things had not gone entirely as expected, but, then again, they rarely did; and there still was so much to learn. They finally had a baseline against which they could measure future human naval deployment and it looked like they would be able to establish a similar baseline for ground troops as well.
Aboard the other ship, the mood was generally festive, as far as the crew understood such a concept. They'd had a successful mission, but perhaps even more interesting, though less valuable, was the spectacle unfolding before their eyes.
It had been a trap! After days and weeks of speculation, the humans had finally provided the answer. Intentional or not, the entire star system had served as bait in a giant trap that had drawn in an entire turian fleet and left them mangled beyond repair. The hunters looked on in joyful admiration. Truly, few species could provide as much entertainment as humans did. There was always a surprise waiting somewhere. Now the endgame was drawing near, and the hunters wouldn't have missed it for anything.
(1) ADV= Air Defense Vehicle. Think a ME Grizzly vehicle with the turret of a Tunguska (Thanks to Huang Tuah for the suggestion)
The other vehicles are also Grizzly based: A mortar carrier, using an autoloader with a six shot magazine, and a bunch of variants of the standard armoured personnel carrier that are used for command and control, drone control etc.